1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for receiving content rights through a multimedia message in a mobile communication terminal, and in particular, to an apparatus and a method for receiving attached contents along with a protected right object (RO) through a multimedia message in a mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital rights management (DRM) has been briskly studied, and commercial services adopting DRM have been introduced or are being introduced. DRM refers to technology for protecting digital contents, which can be easily counterfeited and distributed without permission.
In the prior art efforts have been made to protect digital contents but focus on the prevention of disapproved or unauthorized access to the digital contents. For example, access to digital contents is allowed to only users who have paid charges but disallowed to users who have not paid charges. However, digital contents can be easily reused, processed, counterfeited, and distributed in terms of characteristics of digital data. Therefore, if a user who has paid charges and accesses the digital contents the counterfeits or distributes the digital contents without permission, users who have not paid charges may use the digital contents.
In order to solve the above problem, DRM is employed to encrypt and distribute digital contents and provide a license called a Right Object (RO) necessary for using the encrypted digital contents.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional mobile communication system for providing digital contents. Referring to FIG. 1, terminals 122, 124, 126 desiring digital contents may obtain desired digital contents from content servers 112, 114, and 116. Here, since the digital contents provided by content servers 112, 114, and 116 are encrypted, terminals 122, 124, and 126 require ROs to use the encrypted digital contents (hereinafter, contents).
Terminals 122, 124, and 126 may pay fixed charges to obtain the ROs including rights to execute the contents from an RO issuing server 130. The rights included in the ROs may be content encryption keys necessary for decoding the contents. Here, RO issuing server 130 reports specifications of issuing of the ROs to content severs 112, 114, and 116. If necessary, RO issuing server 130 and content servers 112, 114, and 116 may be the same subject. Terminals 122, 124, and 126, which have obtained the ROs, use the contents using the ROs.
As described with reference to FIG. 1, an RO is generally not attached to a message but transmitted separately from contents attached to the message. Thus, a user must receive the contents and then request and receive the RO.
If contents and an RO are attached to a message and then transmitted, the RO may be easily open-ended by a user. Thus, the user may attach the RO to the message and then transmit the RO to another user without permission. As a result, a content server may not obtain a just right to the contents. Therefore, the RO must not be attached to the message along with the contents but transmitted separately from the contents.
A format of a message transmitted from a Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) will now be described with reference to FIG. 2, and the message is referred to as a multimedia message in the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates the format of a conventional multimedia message. Referring to FIG. 2, the conventional multimedia message includes a message header 210 and a message body 220.
The message header 210 includes presentation position information 212 designating a presentation part 222. Message body 220 includes presentation part 222 and a content part 224 including contents.
Presentation part 222 includes only information indicating that each of the contents is to be output on how many pages in what second in which position of a display, i.e., only information which is not to be output to a user. Presentation part 222 is not recognized as an attached part in the multimedia message.